


5 Times Karen sent Frank a photo and the 1 time Frank sent a photo.

by IWantSpaghetti



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Dogs, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-04-25 02:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14368950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IWantSpaghetti/pseuds/IWantSpaghetti
Summary: All these photos involve dogs.





	1. When something is wrong with my baby, something is wrong with me

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the chapter title is from that song by Sam & Dave.

Though Karen and Frank were just friends, there was an unspeakable bond that when one was sad, the other was too. This put Karen in a bit of a conundrum, she wanted to cheer Frank up but she didn’t know what made him happy. Throughout the months they’d known each other, Karen tried ice-cream, movies, and even tried to buy him a new pair of shoes. She later realized those were all things that made her happy. So the moment came when Frank was sad again, Karen thought about the one thing he used every day, the one thing he took better care of than anything in the world; his guns. She marched intently to the nearest pawn shop and bought the first slick looking pistol she saw, deciding he relied on snipers too much. Along with the gun, she bought him a box of bullets to go along with it. Her plan succeeded for only a little bit because Frank laughed for five minutes straight at the thought of Karen, all dolled up with her hair back and red lips, walking into a pawnshop and buying a gun. 

She left a little later to go to work and the cloud fell upon him again, he cleaned the gun a little bit, put it in his collection, and went back to bed where he couldn’t fall asleep no matter how much he tried. On her way to work, Karen passed a park where a teenage boy and his pit bull were playing. Well, the boy was trying to, but the pit bull was laying on his back, smiling, enjoying the sun that finally made an appearance after it's longstanding absence. 

“Hey, kid!” Karen called out. 

He walked over, mumbling to himself. “I knew this day would come.” 

“Can I take a picture with your dog?” She asked, ignoring whatever he had said. 

“Not how I thought this would go, but okay.” He shrugged. Karen opened the little gate and was about to go to the dog when the boy held out his hand. “5 bucks.” Karen rolled her eyes but gave him the money regardless. 

She laid on the grass next to the dog, hoping her navy skirt wouldn’t be muddy when she got up. She took out her phone, smiled just as brightly as the pit bull did, and took a photo. She quickly sent it to Frank who, just as quickly, replied with a smiley face. Karen went to work a little happier thinking she cheered Frank up for just another minute but little did she know that Frank spent a large part of the day smiling at that picture. And for months afterward, it was Karen’s contact photo on his phone, and sometimes he’d forget to answer because he was too busy smiling at that photo.


	2. The coolest thing ever

There were some weird things residing in Hell’s Kitchen. So many weird things that it’s become somewhat of a competition between Frank and Karen. One of them will find something weird and send a photo to the other. Frank secured his lead in the game when he sent a photo of a giant rat carrying a slice of pizza up some stairs. Karen couldn’t believe it but neither could Frank. He sent several other photos from different many angles, some including his hand to show Karen how big the rat really was. Karen thought the competition was rigged against her since Frank worked at night, and everyone knew that the weirder stuff comes out at night. When Karen told Frank this, he smugly replied, “don’t hate the player, hate the game.” And she did, for a solid month, she didn’t send anything even the slightest bit odd which she usually would’ve done. 

It was close to 1 AM and Karen just got out from work, Ellison was grilling her to finish her article so they could print that day and get ahead of all other news outlets, and she was very tired and hungry to say the least. She walked to the Chinese restaurant a block away from her apartment which had become a tradition to eat when Frank was taking out some big guys. 

Karen didn’t remember when this tradition started but she remembered how. Frank came stumbling into her living room one day and after Karen fixed him up the best she could, both their stomachs were growling. To their bad luck, Karen had nothing in the fridge. Frank had already accepted his fate, death by starvation. Karen, however, did not. She told Frank of the Chinese place nearby that had weird opening hours presumably because of the casino nearby that shares the same opening hours. Frank, in his drugged state, ignored that reasoning and thought his joke about “still being in the Chinese time-zone” was incredibly funny and didn’t understand why Karen wasn't laughing. So she got up and got food before his jokes got worse. 

Two plastic bags in her right hand, a phone in the left, Karen pushed her way out of the restaurant and nearly dropped both bags and her phone at the sight of what might win her the competition. Sitting on the bench on the sidewalk was a beagle wearing bright pink booties, white Oakley glasses, and a snapback hat as well. She snapped the photo before the dog decided to run off to whatever paradise he came from, and sent it to Frank. He replied minutes later, “maybe not the weirdest, but definitely takes the competition for coolest thing ever!” 

Karen laughed at his reply before sending a response “get back to work, already got the food :)” 

“Yes, ma’am.” Was all he sent back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Eva for beta-reading :)


	3. Cold

Winter to everyone in Hell’s Kitchen meant cold air, warm drinks, and sometimes snow. To Frank, it meant an empty closet. It wasn’t that Karen didn’t have any sweaters, on the contrary, she had more than Frank has. 

Frank woke up to an empty right side and a piece of paper saying ‘dog-sitting at Lila’s today, be back by 7 :)’. Besides turning the heater to the highest setting, making himself many cups of warm coffee, he still found himself cold. 'I want my sweaters back.' Frank had messaged her. 

Karen laughed a little when she read the text. 'They’re mine now.' She challenged. 

Frank didn’t know how to respond, truth be told, he did like seeing her in his sweaters. The normally tall and fierce woman suddenly became so small and adorable. She’d often have to roll up the sleeves and tuck the hem into her jeans so that she wasn’t drowning in it. 

'Oh really?' Frank challenged back. He knew it wasn’t as good of a reply but it was too early to think of a proper comeback. 

Frank saw the three dots appear, then disappear, only to reappear, and disappear again. Instead of a message coming through, Karen sent an image. Frank opened it and his heart grew three sizes. It was a portrait photo of Karen’s head laying on a pillow, presumably on the couch, in his light grey sweater. A small puppy’s head was tucked in the crook of her neck, while the rest of him was tucked in the sweater. Along with that image, she sent. 'It’s Charles’ now too.'

Frank’s fingers typed the next three messages robustly.

'Karen'

'You can keep the sweater'

'Just please bring that dog back with you'

They continued texting for a while, even skyped a little bit while Frank was eating lunch just so he could see Charles while he was awake. But to Frank’s dismay, Karen did not bring the puppy home, but she still got to keep his sweater.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks, Eva for beta-reading! :D


	4. Brownie

Frank was suspicious, which wasn’t really odd considering he was almost always suspicious.. But this time was different, it involved Karen and if Karen was involved he had to get to the bottom of it for the sake of his sanity. He reviewed the evidence. She left to work half an hour earlier than she usually did, though that was quickly negated when Frank remembered her saying something about having to show some new employees around. He thought about her friends, they were all weird in Frank’s opinion. But not weird enough, or smart enough for that matter, to plan something harmful against Karen, let alone do it. He thought about Karen’s boyfriend, himself, and decided that he couldn’t have caused this. He’d retired the Punisher for over two months now, killed anyone who had a vendetta against him, and destroyed any evidence that Karen was directly linked to the Punisher, and she did not make that very easy to say the least. Frank thought about his friends too, Curtis and David. Curtis didn’t have a bad bone in his body, if Frank needed help, Curtis would come running. David however, was in the same group as Karen’s friends; too weird and too stupid to plan anything successful (if it wasn’t online that is). Frank had no real idea what David could accomplish on that machine. 

All of the evidence led to a dead-end, so he did the one thing he probably should have done an hour ago when he started to worry; call her. He picked up his phone, rubbing his thumb on the small crack in the top left corner. He’d accidentally dropped it in shock one day when David called him and the ringtone was David’s voice cussing out Frank. He opened his contacts and Karen’s number was saved at the top of favorites. 

“Hi, Pete!” Karen answered on the first ring. Pete, she was with someone. 

“Karen, good!” Frank replied very incoherently. 

“Good?” Karen asked an Frank heard her laugh a little. 

“Long story.” He settled. “Where are you?” 

“I’m at Janet’s place, you’ll never believe what happened!” 

Janet was the one friend of Karen’s that Frank didn’t like. He tried, he really tried. But she never stopped talking, and never lowered her volume either. It was a constant babble of daft conversation. Though it was more of a monologue than a conversation. 

“Oh, Janet.” And Frank couldn’t keep the disdain out of his voice. 

“Good you remember, anyway, you know her dog, Brownie, right?” 

Brownie, the one good thing about Karen’s friendship with Janet was Frank’s connection with her dog. Whenever Janet would hang over at their place for either a girl’s night or a dinner, she brought Brownie, which meant Frank finally had an excuse to leave the room. Sometimes Karen would have to call Frank to come back home because Janet was leaving, it was always a bittersweet moment. 

“That beautiful dog, yes.” The disdain instantly leaving his voice. 

“Well…” She dragged on and Frank could almost smell the wine through the phone. Karen only dragged her words after three glasses of wine. “She now has beautiful babies!” 

“You’re kidding,” Frank said. 

“Wait, I’ll you back,” Karen said and instantly hung up, leaving Frank in an uncomfortable silence. 

But no sooner than a minute later she called him back. “Did you see it?” 

“See what?” Frank asked. 

“The picture I sent you,” she let out an annoyed sigh. “My data is so slow.” 

Frank put the call on speaker and to his surprise, he had one unread message. He opened the picture to see Brownie lying asleep on her pillow surrounded by five mini brownies who were using their mom as a playground. 

“Did you get it yet?” Karen’s voice echoed. “Whoa, just heard myself. Ha! There it was again. Hellooooo Karen.” 

“I got it!” Frank said, ignoring what she just said and putting the call off speaker.

“Cute, yeah? You can come over and play with them if you want.” Karen offered. 

“Umm, I don’t know,” Frank said, thinking about how he’ll be contained in the same room as Janet. 

“Janet has another bottle of wine,” Karen said and that hit Frank’s sweet spot. Two bottles of wine meant a tired Janet, it meant a tired Karen too, but he could deal with that. He got up, got his coat, and went to hang out with the Brownie family.


	5. Frank

Bored and worried, Karen sat in her office. Seconds piled on seconds, minutes on minutes, hours on hours, and all Karen wanted was to go home. She anxiously waited for the clock’s hand to hit 5 because then, and not a second later, she would be out of the dust infested office and running home to Frank. It wasn’t that Frank had been gone for months like he did when they first met, in fact, it was the exact opposite. Frank had moved in almost entirely, he still had a small apartment a few blocks away that kept most of his arsenal. But why Karen was so intent on going home, unbeknownst to her coworkers, was the 40-degree fever Frank was sleeping off. Though sleeping off was the wrong term to use, since midnight, every time he woke up the fever rose a few degrees. Karen knew Frank was a strong man, it would take much more than a fever to take him down but nevertheless, she still fussed over him. 

It was 4:38 PM. Only 28 more minutes, Karen kept repeating to herself. She could handle the wait, she’d waited the entire day, what could a short 28 minutes do to her? Apparently quite a lot. Her left pinkie nail had been bitten as much as you could possibly bite a nail without drawing blood. The neat bun her hair was in when she walked in had come undone and her blonde waves rested on her shoulders. She already made sure that her handbag was packed, that her shoes were on, and that her articles were saved. 27 more minutes left and Karen was on the edge of her seat. She looked out the glass that separated her office from all the cubicles and found that almost everyone was surrounding Paul’s cubicle. 

Something Karen had taken for granted were those thick glass windows, because the moment she stepped outside, it was chaos. There was loud laughter, multiple ‘awww’s’, and the click of pictures. Karen walked closer to see what was causing all of this. She heard it before she saw it; it was a dog. She pushed people out of the way to find Paul holding a salt and pepper Schnauzer puppy. Under all the attention, Paul, the intern who nobody really cared for, thrived. Yet the puppy looked more confused and clung to Paul anytime someone would get close. 

“What’s his name?” Mary asked. 

“Frank,” Paul answered. “Like the sausage.” 

“The what?” Mary asked. 

“You know, the sausage?” Paul pushed. 

“Why would you name your dog after a sausage?” Brady asked, chuckling. 

“The seller told me he was part Dachshund, the dog that looks like the sausage.”

“That looks like a pure Schnauzer.” Karen laughed.

“He’s 1% Dachshund.” Paul shrugged. Everyone giggled at the expense of Paul’s naivety. At least he got a cute dog out of it, Karen thought. 

“Do you mind if I take a picture?” Karen asked, thinking it would be really funny to send Frank a photo of a dog also called Frank. 

“Go for it,” Paul said, placing Frank on his lap and holding his paws up in the air. Karen took a photo and sent it to Frank. She didn’t expect a reply, or even for Frank to see the image until hours later when he woke up. But five minutes later when Karen was back in her office, and Ellison made everyone return to their desks, Karen’s phone buzzed. 

‘Named after me? :D’ Frank had texted back. 

‘After the sausage.’ Karen replied. 

‘The sausage?’ He sent. ‘That’s ridiculous’ 

‘I know.’ Karen typed back. ‘Paul says he’s part Dachshund.’ 

‘Karen’ Frank sent and followed with, ‘that dog doesn’t have a dachshund bone in his body’ 

‘I know.” Karen replied along with some laughing faces. Paul had been tricked and even a half-asleep, sick man could see that. ‘Go back to sleep, I’ll be home soon.” 

‘Okay’ was all Frank sent in return. Karen spent the rest of the twenty minutes making lists of everything she needed to do when she was home, telling Ellison she couldn’t stay later, and laughing quietly to herself that Paul really believed it was part Dachshund.


	6. A surprise

Foggy and Karen had a monthly tradition creatively entitled ‘Winosaur’. Since Karen stopped working at Nelson and Murdock, they spent less time together, and both realized how much they missed having someone who they can drink and joke with endlessly. Of course Foggy had Matt and as funny as he was, Karen’s humor was just a smidge darker and more unexpected. And Karen could always go drinking with Janet or Marie, but neither compared to the fun that she had with Foggy. They’d go out to drink and walk out barely able to function like normal people. 

Most months they go to Josie’s, some months they try new places. The new places always end up being terrible but without a small hipster bar called ‘Dr!nk’, they never would’ve seen the poster of the dinosaur drinking wine. It was then, five drinks in, that they finally came up with a name, or rather they found a name, for their tradition. 

In dim lights of an almost empty Josie’s, Foggy was telling, more like yelling, his story. “So I was standing there, Doughnut in one hand, stapler in the other, the frog is under the dryer when Marci walks in-”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Karen interrupted. “Marci? As in Marci Stahl? When did that happen?” 

“I never told you?” Foggy asked and Karen shook her head, if he did then she forgot. “Oh that’s another long story, I’ll tell you after this one.” Karen nodded and Foggy continued telling his story in animated gestures and most likely exaggerated details. 

“And that’s how I ended up with the promotion.” He finished and Karen laughed hysterically. 

“Oh how far a doughnut and a stapler can get you in life.” She mused. 

“Very true,” Foggy said. “Don’t forget about the frog though.” 

“Oh how far a doughnut, stapler, and frog!” Karen corrected, “can get you in life.” To which Foggy nodded like a child who just got asked if he wanted ice-cream. 

Karen’s phone rang her text-tone and Foggy groaned. “If you check it, you take a shot.”

Karen looked at him, considering the options though she already knew she was going to check it. She had all the restraint of a drunk woman, which, at this point, meant nothing. As she opened the text, Foggy took a shot as well just to keep up with Karen's level of drunkenness. 

“Oh stop, that’s too cute,” Karen said. 

“What is?” Foggy asked, trying to peak over her shoulder. 

“Did I say that out loud?” Karen asked, slapping a hand over her mouth. 

“Spill or take three! Yes, three whole shots. We’re upping the anty tonight.” Foggy said the last sentence to the rest of the people in the bar, who all ignored him. 

“Fine,” Karen answered, though again, knowing she would still end up taking the shots. She turned her phone to show Foggy a picture of Frank, looking stern as ever, holding a black bulldog puppy. 

“Karen!” Foggy nearly shouted, realizing how loud he was being he switched to whispering loudly. “That’s the Punisher!” 

Karen leaned in just as Foggy had. “I know!” 

“How do you have that photo?” He asked, eyes wide. “Why do you have that photo?” 

“He sent it to me.” She giggled, turning her attention back to her drink and her phone. 

At her response, Foggy looked dumbfounded. “What?” 

“Aww, his name is Max.” Karen said as a new text came in. 

“You’re messaging him?!” Foggy asked. 

“Well, he’s messaging me.” Karen smartly retorted.

“Karen,” Foggy said in a voice that he thought made him sound important but Karen thought it sounded so odd and started to laugh again. 

“When did you become British?” She asked. 

“When did you become friends with,” he lowered his voice a bit, “the Punisher?” 

“Oh, since May of, umm, the year before last.” She answered, sipping her drink. 

“You’ve been friends with him all this time?!” He asked, his eyes widening. 

“Ya,” Karen answered. 

“Why haven’t you told me about this?”

“Why haven’t you told me about Marci?” Karen countered. 

“This is not the same,” Foggy said, baffled. 

“It’s not, not the same,” Karen said shrewdly. 

“But we’re dating,” Foggy argued. 

Karen only took a sip of her drink.

“Karen I’m going to have a heart attack." He said, breathing in. "I can’t threaten to beat up this guy if he ever breaks your heart.” 

Karen just laughed. And so did Foggy. The ridiculousness of it all was really crashing on them. First, they find out that their best friend was a secret vigilante and now that Karen, sweet Karen, was dating the Punisher. 

"Maybe with that stapler and frog you used earlier you could," Karen suggested, which made Foggy spit out his drink and sent him into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Eva for beta-reading :)


End file.
